Edible Wild Plants of Pastorals at High-Altitude Grasslands of Gurez Valley, Kashmir, India

Abstract

Alpine grasslands of Kashmir are a storehouse of numerous wild edible plants, besides serving as summer pastures for the flocks of various ethnic communities. Throughout these grasslands, pastorals, nomads, and other indigenous communities collect and use these plants in several different ways. This article reports the richness, distribution, use, mode of use, and frequency of use of edible wild plants by three ethnic communities viz. Bakerwals, Gujjars, and Puhloos (Kashmiri herdsmen) from three alpine grasslands of a hitherto unknown Gurez Valley, Kashmir. Twenty-six plants under 21 genera and 14 families are reported from the surveyed grasslands which are used as wild edibles. Our results indicated that for many species, the local names differed between the communities but yet the folklore uses were common. Further, the frequency of use also varied between the communities, with Bakerwals and Gujjars using the majority of the species while the semi-sedentary Puhloos use the least. We hypothesize that this difference in the use frequency between the communities is a function of differing working nature and the rapid advancement of contemporary societal ideas into their culture and hence necessitates the documentation of their traditional practices and knowledge at the earliest.

Keywords:

• edible wild plants
• pastorals
• high altitude
• grasslands
• Kashmir

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Taxonomical help provided by Prof. A. R. Naqshi, Centre of Plant Taxonomy, University of Kashmir is greatly acknowledged. Besides providing the accommodation facilities, the nomadic communities also revealed their valuable traditional knowledge to us, for which we are grateful.